If you’ve been following me on Twitter and Instagram, you might have noticed an increasing number of photos about things growing in our balcony garden. So I was excited with Lizzie of Strayed From the Table asked if I would be interested in joining a Garden Blog Hop. I have said ‘yes’, created the new category ‘In the Garden’ and am looking forward to making regular updates about how well (and poorly) the garden is going, because there’s only so many words one can fit in a tweet.

To kick off this Garden Share, allow me to play host and introduce you to my little garden space.

We live in an inner-city apartment, which thankfully comes with a 8m by 1.5m balcony. It gets full morning sunlight on one end and then full afternoon light, which warms the wall for the rest of the evening. We don’t have a lot of wind, but when it is stormy, it can get a little crazy and some plants will get moved to a more protected area of the balcony.

This might seem like a lot of plants, but I’m only secure about my aloe vera, spring onion and rosemary. I share a testy first-date type of relationship with everything else, as I have never been raised as much of a gardener and haven’t had too much luck with plants. In fact, be prepared for a report on something dying every time this blog share comes along.

While the balcony garden is protected by larger pests and predators, like possums, it has already seen battle with aphids and white moth caterpillars. I am currently trying to do companion planting to minimise pests and maximise the available space. Commercial chemical warfare against pests will be a last resort.

Over the next month, I’m hoping to harvest my first pea shoots, which will hopefully be ready in about 2-4 weeks and some of my baby salad leaf veggies – beetroot, lettuce, mizuna and tatsoi. Most of these are still at the two leaf stage, so I am learning to be patient.

This blogpost is the first as part of the Garden Share Collective, where we tour around the web looking at food lovers’ veggies patches, container gardens or herbs on the window sill.

Drop in and have a look at how other contributors are going with their planting affairs.

What a great garden. I can’t believe you are trying to grow broccoli, it takes up heaps of room, however the leaves are really tasty and worth putting in stir-fry’s. I look forward to seeing you expand your garden, all Asian greens like tatsoi, bok choi, gai lan and pak choi would love your place all year round if you have the sun. From seed they are about 6 weeks from harvest and 4 weeks from seedlings. Can’t wait to visit again next month.

Looks like you have a great balcony space and garden, I like how you have the pots on the ground as well as hanging along the rails. I have never used apple mint before but it looks interesting what meals would you normally use it in?

Thanks! Using the rails to hold planters were a way to maximise such limited space, but I have to be careful to only put plants which are able to withstand full sun there.

Apple mint can be used in any recipe that requires mint. I find the flavour sweeter and lacks the sharpness found in spear or regular mint, so if you find those too overpowering, try apple mint. Especially tasty in fruit desserts and summer teas. I’m trying to find pineapple and chocolate mint to add to the collection as well.

Wow Melissa! I can’t believe what a variety you have. How exciting! I bet it all grows wonderfully.
It’s nice to see I’m not the only one who just throws stuff in to see how it will go.
Must start saving toilet rolls.

Awww, thanks! We’re really lucky our balcony is quite sizeable and the railing is sturdy enough to handle a few hanging pots. Unfortunately being up high still doesn’t protect us from the white cabbage moth or aphids, so the broccoli is gone now. We’re moving to experimenting with other plants now.

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